To Exempt, or Not to Exempt

Like lots of other schools, the school my kids attend offers exam exemptions for students who have an A average before the final, or who sell certain numbers of magazines, raffle tickets, etc.

At first glance, the academic strengths and traditions of MSMS would seem to discount exam exemptions as a possibility. But I’ll ask anyway: are there circumstances that would open the door for exams to be exempted? Would granting them adversely affect the school’s reputation?

41 Responses to To Exempt, or Not to Exempt

Students that have put in the extraordinary amount of work to have an A in some of these classes deserve to be exempt from the final in that class. They obviously know the material, but they are being forced to prove it one more time, even after excelling all year or semester long. The exams here are no joke. The amount of time and studying that has to be sacrificed just to barely pass them is insane. The students that have already put in the amount of time and hard work it takes to earn A’s should not be forced to do so again. They should be rewarded for their efforts. Also, one argument I often hear from other students and administration is that exemptions are not granted in college, that they are just trying to prepare us for comprehensive exams college. Everyone here has to take some type of year long class, at the very least an English. Therefore, we all have to take some type of exam at least once for the first semester of those year long classes. We know what exams are. We don’t need to be taught what they are. We know college is going to be hard, so let those that have earned it enjoy exemptions while they can.

I do not believe something so little as exempting exams for students who have an A average prior to the final would tarnish the reputation of the school. The exemption could be a reward for maintaining an A average and a class and motivation for maintaining an A average. The grades are earned by the student, so I see no wrong with exemption. However, the ticket raffles and the selling of magazines should not result in an exemption from an exam. I would like to pose a counterargument though. Final exams test the retained knowledge of a course. It’s like a test of how well you knew the subject. Final exams have both pros and cons.

While I feel that exemptions would be a great relief, I do not think that they should be taken away. In college, we will have to take exams, and some people will not prepared for the realities of these exams. You need to understand the curriculum that you are learning, and in order for your teachers to know where their students truly lie, there has to be some type of comprehension exam. However, I feel that the pressure that lies upon these tests, is almost too great at times and wish that there was less.

I feel like granting exemptions shouldn’t affect the reputation of the school. If a student gets an exemption because they maintained an A average, then that student earned that exemption fair and square. I feel like an exemption would go too far if the basis for the exemption wasn’t centered around academics. Like if students could be exempt for selling $50 worth of chocolate bars for a school fundraiser. That would be buying grades and that would be unfair.

This can be taken two ways, in my opinion. Firstly, if you look at it from the standpoint of the school. If the school wants to make their image look better then I believe that exemption from exams would be a better choice for them. If an A student is exempt, there is no chance for their grade to go down, securing their good grade and making the school appear to accomplish more. Additionally, from a student’s perspective exemption from exams has many benefits: it pushes me to do my best to get an A so I do not have to take an exam and get out of school early. It just adds another incentive, and a very powerful one at that. However, again from a schools perspective, if their view is to make sure that the students truly learn the material, like MSMS, exams can be a good measure of that. Exams, ideally, overview the course as a whole. Personally, I don’t like exams, but I do see the point of why they exist.

I think there are ways for MSMS to create the possibility of exam exemptions. But for that to happen I predict that the requirements for it would probably be extra and not easy acquire, so that very few might actually earn their exemptions. I don’t think MSMS would ever really go for the exam exemption thing, as good of an idea that may be. As glamorous as an exam exemption policy sounds, you can always count on good ole MSMS to keep us on our students. The only way I think that examptions could damage the school’s reputation is by making them all optional.

Why would it damage the reputation of MSMS? If anything, having many of the students exempt from taking exams shows that the school is doing an awesome job at teaching their students. It also shows that the students are retaining the information through the weekly quizzes and tests given throughout the semester. In opinion my, I believe exams were created by the devil, especially exams with no exemptions. If students have A’s in classes, then they should be allowed to choose whether they want to take those exams or not. Also, including exemptions are beneficial to the teachers Let’s be honest who wants to grade 50 test when you can grade 15. It’s the week before Christmas break so why not just make it easy on everyone.

To argue my point of view, I’d like to pose the question, “Why do we even give exams?” The answer is most likely to prove their knowledge of the material learned over the entire semester or year. However, I think that there are other ways to do so. I think that it is important to have a good system in place for those who are exempt and those who are not. It should not result in , like in many public schools, little to absolutely no students actually taking the exam. I believe that the requirements for exemption should be difficult enough to where the majority of the class still has to take the exam. I am also extremely opposed to the idea that exemptions should be given out based upon attendance. Attendance in no way shape or form reflects your knowledge of the subject material and constitutes as displaying sufficient knowledge. It merely reflects your luck with illness and out of school affairs. In fact, giving out exemptions based upon attendance can even be dangerous as students are likely to attend school even if they are sick just so they do not have to take the exam. This insufficient form of exemption shows an ulterior motive of principals from public schools around the nation for giving out exemptions. This is to use exemptions purely as a motivation tactic. In my experience with public school, this tactic is used in the classroom almost daily especially as the semester nears towards exam time. The current qualification system used in most public schools is insufficient for a school like MSMS. However, this does not mean we should not do them at all. We should find a system that makes it far more challenging to gain an exemption, for example having an overall average of 95 or above. The problem with this is that sometimes projects and daily grades that don’t necessarily have the same goal as exams factor into this calculation. Another way could be to look specifically at summative test grades earned throughout the semester and set a value that the average of these test grades must surpass. I do not have all the answers but I believe that exemptions should be granted here at MSMS, however the qualifications for an exemption should be more difficult than at public schools so that the majority of most classes have to take the exam. I do not think this solution would hurt the reputation of MSMS, however I do believe that the qualification system in place at most public schools or one of similar rigor would damage our reputation.

*Note my proposed exemption systems would only give me exemptions for about a quarter which I think is just right. The classes that I have these grades in I have mastered the topics covered. If I were exempt from these, then I could focus my energy on studying for the exams in which I need to study for. Some might refute that argument by saying “if you truly understand the topics you shouldn’t have to worry about the exam” however that simply will not happen. As human beings who would appreciate not drowning in student loans, the grades we receive on an exam could make or break our future. This means no matter if its an exam on 3rd grade math or calculus most students here are still going to stress about it and spend some time preparing for it. However if the amount of exams we had to take was reduced then we could spend more time focusing on the exams we really need to study for.

At my old high school, the exemption policy was completely unfair. A student had to have 0 absences, no exceptions, to even think about qualifying for this “privilege”. For a freshman who was the only student taking their advanced French final due to missing two days of school from attending the funeral of my grandfather who I had just lost to prostate cancer, this rule infuriated me. I was even more mad when my teacher gave me half the test in Spanish just because she could and that failing grade dropped me from a 96 to a disappointing 89 in the class. The next year as a sophomore, I decided that this wasn’t going to happen again and I was going to take the final for my anatomy class. I pushed through that class, cramming for every test and forgetting everything, going to class in extreme conditions such as strep throat and a dislocated kneecap and I didn’t take the midterm or final. Someone with the same average as me that refused to come to school on their deathbed, shouldn’t have to take the chance of having their grade lowered because they missed one stupid day of class the entire year.
Finals don’t raise grades. They just don’t. Someone who has a 100 in the class shouldn’t be exempt because they “already proved their understanding of the material” when someone with a 91 could easily go down a letter grade from a poor score. In my opinion, parts of the class shouldn’t be given opportunities for a better average that the rest of the class did not receive.Exams promote hard work and studying and if a student wants to be exempt because they already have an A, that is just lazy and gives our school a worse reputation than it already has from the other things that go on around here.

While there may be undeniable benefits to mandatory exams, a refined system of exam exemptions would be much more beneficial for the students and the school. First, if a student has a high A in a class, they have already shown their understanding and should not have to prove it again. Taking exams in classes that one has already shown their intelligence in just gets in the way of studying for other exams that the student may need to dedicate more time to. A system of exemptions would allow students to keep their good grades while improving the grades in their other classes, therefore improving their future and giving the school a higher average.

My old school forced students to take exams before the winter break, but students were able to be exempt from finals if they had a 93 or above and good attendance. The exams were too easy and everything was verbatim from the study guide. It wasn’t an exam but instead rather more of a giant vocab test. The exams here are hard to set aside time for and can seem over whelming, but they are essential to MSMS life. It forces people to retain the information they learned at the start of the year which is needed in order to proceed at MSMS because the classes build on top of each other.

While I don’t necessarily want to take exams, I do think they are a good thing. Most exams, especially here, are accumulative, meaning that they test our knowledge on what we have learned so far. This ensures that we understand the material and will be ready to take any state tests or AP exams. Exams are not enjoyable, but they are beneficial to us. As we take these exams, we are preparing ourselves for future exams in college, which we will most likely not be able to get out of. They allow us to be able to fully learn and understand the material. However, at the same time, I feel that we cram for the exam and then forget what we learned from the test. From this, we simply have to relearn everything and cram again for any state exams or tests at later times. The benefits of exams depend on who the person is. Someone that is trying to learn and comprehend will benefit well from exams. However, someone like me, for example, that crams for exams and forgets the material weeks later, does not truly benefit from exams. They only cause me stress and anxiety. As said before, it really depends on the person as to whether or not exams truly help.

I went to a middle school that did allow exam exemptions, and this was such a stress relief. I know that many schools feel exams are important for college preparation, and this may be true, but these are such an added stress to high school students. We are not in college yet though, so I think that by certain standards exemptions should be available to us if we choose. If a student works hard to study on all of their tests before exams, should they not be allowed this freedom. Exams should be a way to measure the knowledge gained in the class; if the student has proven they have already learned the material then they should have the option of being exempt from the exam, which is just to measure the information they have already proven they know. I think that this extra stress relief should be allowed to the people who already show their dedication and knowledge throughout the year.

Students should have the option to be exempted from exams. If they have an A or high A (administration can set the bar), a good disciplinary record, and little to no absences, they should be exempt from an exam. The school itself is rigorous enough; students struggle to maintain Bs in classes; adding the burden of 6-8 final cumulative exams, 2 hours each, on the span of 4 days, is very stressful and may harm the health of the students. Many students already sleep on average 3-5 hours a night. Some pull all-nighters on a regular basis. People skip meals to study, forgetting to eat until they are reminded to. Studying for two finals on one day, the matters could get worse. I think that this is the biggest issue at MSMS. The workload is a lot, like warned in the application, but it might be too much.

There are teachers that assign tests two or three days before exams. Teachers may argue that students should begin preparing for final exams a week or two ahead. However, in reality, this is nearly impossible due to other priorities, such as crammed projects and tests. I believe that final exams are a greater burden than a benefit. I do not think that exempting students from exams would ruin MSMS’s reputation. It is already known as the best high school in Mississippi. However, note that MSMS is not just a normal high school, it is a PUBLIC high school; most public high schools around the state exempt their students from final exams. Why must we, in addition to the piles of schoolwork and responsibility, suffer more from these 120-minute adversities?

I came from a school that would allow you to get exempt based on attendance and grades. As much as I looked forward to that exemption slip in each of my classes, it’s really just detrimental to you. In college there are no exemptions. There are also no other exemptions for regular tests so why should exams be different? Yes, they are a complete pain in the ass, but they prepare you the most for things as well as help you realize what you know and don’t know. Now, of course I could rant on how tests are unfair to the overall knowledge consumption of a subject, but that’s a different topic. In the end, I don’t think anyone should be allowed to be exempt from exams. It’s a burden everyone needs to face in their life.

Coming from someone who has never had to take an exam, I feel like exams actually should be an essential part when it comes to testing. I’ve always just remembered the information long enough to take the test and after the test, forgotten everything I was taught. I feel like when you have to take the exam, you are required to actually learn the material instead if just remembering it which was a huge adjustment compared to my old school.

The main purpose of an exam is to test a student’s progress in a course. At my old school, yes, there were exam exemptions, but the actual exam does not even serve its purpose. It is either just another chapter test but going in as an exam grade, or giving a presentation related to the class, so deciding whether or not I should take the exam was based on if I wanted to improve my average. At MSMS, however, a midterm is a midterm. Most classes actually give an exam testing almost everything learned throughout the semester. Although this should be how all schools should be like, but in my opinion, I would rather there be exemptions. The reputation of MSMS would not necessarily be tarnished just because there’s an “exemption” option in taking exams. Exams are there to see if a student is actually learning in the class. I think there should be exemptions to exams based on the students’ grade in that class. Selling a certain number of magazines and other items in order to be exempt does not show whether or not you understand a material, but having a certain average in a class does. I do not think things like attendance or behavior should be accounted for in determining exemptions. These, like magazines, do not show a student’s academic performance in the class. Making exemptions primarily based on how a student is doing in that class would be most efficient and logical; this also should not affect MSMS’s reputation because it actually gives a legitimate reason why someone is exempted.

Letting a student become exempt can negatively affect their performance in any school setting. Though it may be a major convenience for the student, his or her experience in college can cause fault in their experience. Not being able to prepare for an exam can make the student stress a lot more than they usually are. As a victim of not taking any final exams before my junior year. I can say that I wish that I have been inadequately equipped for the examination season. This has been my hardest week here and studying for my plethora of final exams is excruciating. Being here at MSMS, I can see that most of the students here are already overachieving, so I do not foresee any special conditions that would result in a student being exempt from any of their final exams.

The school I use to go to did not allow people to take their exams if their grade was an A and if they had less than three absences. Students would try to study as hard as they can and also try to not miss school, so they did not have to take the exam. It made the grade point average go up because students were studying and not missing school. Exams stress out students, and stress is not what a student should be experiencing when their at school.

The purpose of requiring students to take exams here at MSMS is to prepare us for college. However, if the exams are going to be so hard in college, why make students go through the struggle now when we are still going to struggle later? Studying for these exams now will not help us study for college exams in the future. It is just placing more work on the students. Teachers say that taking exams now will help us achieve better grades in college, yet our grades are dropping here due to the mass cram of knowledge. If a student has an A in a class, that student, clearly, understands what is being taught in that course. There is no reason for the teacher to make them take another test just to make sure.

Exam exemptions would not tarnish the reputation of MSMS because people do not typically consider exam exemptions when they think of the reputation of a school. Exemptions should be allowed in the case that students have a grade high enough to prove that they have understood the material. On the subject of preparing for college exams, exams are just long and comprehensive tests. Every student at MSMS has had to take a comprehensive test before.

Personally, I view exams with a slightly different perspective than some students. Semester finals create an odd mixture of fear, surprise, and excitement. Many are comprehensive, testing on knowledge from every unit. Personally, I get hit by the wave of panic with the amount of content covered on a 2-hour test worth 20% of my semester grade. After overcoming the realization that those 120 minutes count for more than a few weeks of steady work, I start listing out everything I need to review. Here, I’m surprised by just how much we’ve covered and that there’s a good bit that I recognize if not remember. In terms of learning, this is perfect by capitalizing on spaced repetition, the idea that spaced-out learning enables long-term storage. This leaves me slightly anxious (but prepared) to see what all I remember to be ready after the last day of class. I don’t believe all the importance should be focused on the grade, and thus the results of the final, so I believe they are important. However, a school’s reputation nor the caliber of its students will be diminished if they choose to exempt their finals. They will just miss out on the many benefits of spaced learning which for many are unimportant. This idea comes from numerous studies on learning and summed up by a Psychology Today article.

I think there should be exemptions for year long classes. Out of my 8 classes, there is a standardized test for 3. I feel it is not fair to have a test on all of the information from the entire year twice. Exemptions would not hurt the school’s repuation since MSMS is college prep, not college.

The school I used to go to allowed exemptions, so I have never actually taken an exam. I think it is a good thing that MSMS has exams because it prepares us for having to take exams in college. Exemptions were nice because I didn’t have to worry about exams. I think it would be nice if MSMS did allow some sort of exemption if a student has done well in a course all throughout the year. The student could have the choice to take an exam if they believe that it would improve their grade. I don’t think granting exemptions would hurt the school’s reputation because the information that students learn here sticks better than what they’ve learned at their old schools even if they don’t have to do a big cramming session for an exam.

The problem with exemptions are simply that we wouldn’t be prepared for college exams, which are probably on this level of hard or potentially even worse. However, I do believe that the stress level for final exams is unreal, and maybe dialing back the weight that the semester exam has on the grade average might help alleviate some of the stess, also another stress reliever would be requiring that the last major test be completed a full week before Exams begin, just so that during exam-prep week students aren’t worrying about tests (that are still important, but the material has no correlation to the material on the exam.)

I can from a school that offered exemptions, and I thought it was a great break from the stress of the school year. I think that something MSMS could do in place of just giving away exemptions is to make all students take an exam, but if they qualify for “exemptions,” the grade will only be put in if it helps their grade OR have the final exam worth less than the original percentage. This way, all students are encouraged to do well on their exams, but a lot of the pressure is taken off. I don’t think giving students that have earned an exemption a way to relax for the last couple of days before break.

Providing exam exemptions could be good in cases where students have kept a steady grade that is high, and the students are taking many strenuous courses. Giving an exam exemption can be good for students for multiple reasons; it could be a reward for the hardworking or a motivation for those who work less.

At my previous school, people who took the AP exam at the end of an AP course were exempt from their final exams. I think this is a valid way to handle exemptions.

I definitely believe that a school should have exam exemptions in cases where the student has an A in the class. The courses and curriculum at MSMS is already rigorous as it is, many exams are just as hard as tests themselves. The pressure of exams can be a lot on a student, and their grades might not be reflective of what they’ve actually learned.
If the criteria are set solely based on your grade in the class such as having an A, I believe MSMS’ reputation will not be affected negatively because MSMS will still have the reputation of harder classes in general. Whether or not there is one cumulative test at the end of the semester will not affect MSMS; however, it has the potential to relieve a lot of stress for students who are juggling 3 AP classes and various clubs and sports. It can be hard for a student at MSMS to maintain their social, academic, and extracurricular life, and most of MSMS classes are already college-level classes, so if any school were to have exemptions, it should be MSMS. Exemption serves as a great incentive for them to work hard because a student will continue working hard throughout the year in hopes of being exempt from the exam.

One of the primary goals of MSMS is to prepare you for college. While being exempt would free up time for us as students, it does not help us prepare for college. If we went through all of our years of school without ever taking an exam, we would have no preparation to exams in college. Exemptions do not exist in college, and should not exist here for the same reason.

Like everyone else, my old school allowed exemptions. Every quarter, four times throughout the day, masses of students would pack into the gymnasium and hang out rather than sitting in the classrooms taking exams. You could be on the brink of failing, and if you didn’t miss a single day of class, you could be exempt. Or you could have a 100 average and had 2 doctors appointments and a sick day, and you would have to take the exam. It is a very broken and unfair system.

Although exam exemptions definitely go against the values of education at MSMS in that it doesn’t ensure that students are truly learning all the material, it may very well be possible. With the proper circumstances and guidelines, exemptions could be allowed. We all know the rigor of the courses offered here, and we all know how difficult it is to maintain a high A (such as 97s and above — kudos to you if you’ve been able to do that) in several classes. So what if, taking discipline and absences into consideration, a certain final grade qualified a student for exam exemptions?

I feel exemptions would damage MSMS’s reputation because if exemptions were a thing, students would just focus on the now and not study for the future causing them to forget what all they learned in the beginning of the year.

Exam exemptions are a great incentive for students to pull up their grades. If getting to an A in a class is what students have to do to be exempted from an exam, they’ll do it. I don’t think this reflects badly on MSMS- having kids with A’s is a good thing. Also, this is helpful for kids who are really busy, i.e. seniors, people taking the national exams in the spring semester, etc. It also depends on the class and how rigorous the curriculum is. However, I think that exam exemptions are very fair and useful. It is fair because having an A, in most cases, proves that you know the material.

I think the reputation of MSMS could be damaged if exemptions from exams were really easy to acheive by selling enough magazines or raffle tickets. Exeptions because of excellent grades and little to no tardies would not be bad ideas though. I think they would give students something to try to work towards. The students would work hard to maintain a good grade in the class and to have no tardies so that would be good for the student while giving the teacher one less exam to grade.

I agree with the fact that MSMS seems like the type of school that would not have exam exemptions, but that doesn’t mean it still can’t happen. Perhaps with certain criteria like only a certain amount of tardies, a certain grade in a class, and a certain number of violations. I think MSMS’s reputation would be affected in a bad way only if exam exemptions were as easy as selling a certain number of magazines or raffle tickets. However, if the criteria is set to a high standard that includes the grade you have in that class and possibly other things, then MSMS’s reputation would not be affected that badly. I think that an exam grade is not the best reflection of how a student is doing in that class. While exams are supposed to evaluate how much information students have learned over the semester, students also have many other things going on. They have other exams to study for, some students with tests right before exams to study for, extracurriculars, etc. Combining all these factors can cause students to make a grade the makes it seem like they haven’t learned anything, when in fact they did, they just had so many other things to study for.

The school I attended previous to MSMS allowed for exemptions based on both grade average and absences. So, a student could be exempt from their exams if they had both an A average in their classes and no more than three absences, two absences if they had a B average, one absence if they had a C average, and no absences if they had a D (above 65 at my old school was still passing). As nice as this was, it wouldn’t really work here, where a single absence is a big deal. Exams were also kind of a joke there because so many people were exempt every year, so they didn’t count for much. I think there they only counted for 10% of the final grade? I really like having an exam count for 20% of the grade because it allows me a little more wiggle room in classes I’m aiming for an A in, and it looks like a lot of students in comparison here feel the same with how popular the exam calculator is.

I truly understand the purpose of exams. They are there to make sure all of the things that were taught throughout the school year got retained. However, at a school as fast paced as this one, it is too much to have an exam for every class without the possibility of there being an exemption. I can see both sides of this situation. Students are not likely to be exempt from college exams, so it is getting us ready for college, right? WRONG. Most college students consider it to be a heavy load when they are taking 15 credits(5 classes) a semester. MSMS students, on average, each take 6 or more classes a semester in order to get that MSMS 13. Most of these classes are college level courses. With that being said, why can we not get exempt from at least one exam since the average MSMS student takes almost two more classes more than the average college student per-semester. I believe it can and should be done but to due-process. There should be a competitive application process in order to get a test exempt, and the student must have to write a maximum 400 word essay explaining why they want the test exempt. The student must have proven himself/herself worthy of an exempt consistently throughout the semester. The student should give really valid reasoning on why the exam exempt; therefore, they will have proven themselves worthy of one. Also, whatever average that student has in the class must stay the same. Each teacher should have a limited of students eligible for an exemption and each student should only be allowed one. I think this would be an effective way to exempt students from exams without anyone taking advantage of it.

The school I previously attended allowed exemptions if a student’s attendance and grades matched. As a result of this, students chose to do enough to get by without being having to take a test. I often found myself engaging in this culture. Although I maintained good grades, I didn’t put forth the extra effort of truly learning the material. Despite exams being stressful, I feel as though they force me to put forth the work of making sure I know the material. I do not believe allowing test exemption would damage the school’s reputation because this school is far more than a few test.

The previous high school I attended offered exams to people who were present a certain number of days as long as a student had a certain average. Exam exemptions are a good way of motivating students to do well in a class, but it doesn’t help students that don’t really know the material of the class. In my old school it wasn’t hard for the kid with the lowest grade to find a way to keep a C and miss no days so they wouldn’t have to take an exam they knew they would fail because they were lazy or never put any effort into the class. It gives the school a reputation that you don’t have to do that great of a job in class to pass. Granted these kids will find themselves struggling later in life since they never put any effort into learning. I think exams are an incentive of their own to do well in class to pass.

As someone that has never taken an exam before, I think that at a school as fast paced as this one exams are needed to ensure that you have retained everything you have learned. A person’s grade might not have been the perfect A at the beginning of the semester, but the student might have a better understanding of some of that information as the semester comes to a close.
I feel as if some students that have showed complete understanding from start to end should be able to be exempt, because what would be the point of testing someone twice over when they have showed time and time again that their abilities surpass the standards placed in front of them.